The
Shilluk Kingdom was located along the banks of the
White Nile river in modern
South Sudan. Its capital and royal residence was in the town of
Fashoda. According to their folk history and neighboring accounts, the kingdom was founded during the mid-fifteenth century CE by its first ruler, the demigod Nyikang. During the nineteenth century, the Shilluk were affected by military assaults from the
Ottoman Empire and later British colonization in
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Shilluk king is currently not an independent political leader, but a traditional chieftain within the governments of
South Sudan and
Sudan.